Chapter 3 Flashcards
A narrative that describes a particular set of future conditions
Scenario
Organizations that are affected by, and affect, their environment
Open Systems
Leveling normal fluctuations at the boundaries of the environment
Smoothing
A customer who purchases of raw materials or wholesale products before selling them to final consumers
Intermediate consumer
Fixed cost buyers face when they change suppliers
Switching cost
Information that helps managers determine how to compete better
Competitive intelligence
The immediate environment surrounding the firm: include suppliers, customers, rivals and the like
Competitive environment
Creating supplies of excess resources in case of unpredictable needs
Buffering
Searching for and sorting through information about the environment
Environmental scanning
A firm’s investment in a different product, business or geographic area
Diversification
One or more companies combining with another
Merger
The managing of the network of facilities and people that obtain materials from outside the organization, transform them into products, and distribute them to customers
Supply chain management
The process of sharing power with employees to enhance their confidence in their ability to perform their jobs and contribute to the organization
Empowerment
The components of an organization that can be seen and heard, such as office layout, dress, orientation, stories, and written material
Visible artifacts
The underlying qualities and desirable behaviors that are important to the organization
Values
One firm buying another
Acquisition
A firm selling one or more businesses
Divestiture
Conditions that prevent new companies from entering an industry
Barriers to entry
The set of assumptions that members of an organization share to create internal cohesion and adapt to the external environment
Organization culture
All relevant forces outside of a firm’s boundaries, such as competitors, customers, the government and the economy
External environment
All relevant forces inside a firm’s boundaries, such as its managers, employees, resources and organizations culture
Internal environment
The process of comparing an organizations practices and technologies with those of other companies
Benchmarking
A customer who purchases products in their finished form
Final consumer
Companies that stay within a stable product domain as a strategic maneuver
Defenders
Lack of information needed to understand or predict the future
Environmental uncertainty
Method for predicting how variables will change in the future
Forecasting
The strongly held and taken-for-granted beliefs that guide behavior in the firm
Unconscious assumptions
The general environment: includes governments, economic conditions, and other fundamental factors that generally affect all organizations
Macroenvironment
Companies that continuously change their boundaries for their task environments by seeking new products and markets, diversifying and merging, or acquiring new enterprises
Prospector
Statistical characteristics of a group or population such as age, gender and educational level
Demographics
Strategies that an organiztion acting on its own uses to change some aspect of the current environment.
Independent strategies
Entering into a new market or industry with existing expertise
Domain Selection
An organization’s conscious efforts to change the boundaries of its task environment
Strategic Maneuvering
Strategies used by two or more organizations working together to manage the external environment.
Cooperative Strategies
Methods for adapting the technical core to changes in the environment
Flexible Process
